"KGB arrested the reporter of Radio "Ratsiya". The journalist had been released, all the tapes on the recorder were erased"

Submitted by admin on Mon, 01/24/2011 - 13:51

On January 24th at 11:30 AM journalist Gennady Barbarich was detained at the club named after Dzerzhinsky.

Reporter of Radio “Ratsyja” Gennady Barbarich interviewed the wives of prisoners. KGB officers approached him, they asked him the documents and the reasons for his being there. After that, he was taken with officers.

Relatives of inmates with handovers are awaiting inside of the Dzerzhinsky club – culture house of KGB, because they were forbidden to wait near the building. This created an unfavorable image of the authorities. They have to stand every day for several hours in lines to transfer gifts to relatives, wrote "Nasha Niva".

Information from the International Observation Mission:
The Mission contacted Gennady Barbarychem, who reported that the detention was brief and he is free now. But Gennady said that his working notes on the recorder had been erased.

"According to officers’ explanation the reason of my detention and deletion of records is – I was recording at secure building, where, according to the instructions the audio, video, photo-shooting is prohibited. But I was not in the KGB building, but in the culture club of KGB, where concerts are often took place, which are recorded on photo and video equipment"

International observation missions will continue to monitor the situation of journalists and human rights defenders.

Mission contacts:
tel: +375 33 636 05 00 / +375 33 340 67 72
e-mail: [email protected]

News of Belarus

Tough sentences announced to Brest antifascists

Submitted by admin on Mon, 10/05/2015 - 21:00

A verdict was delivered today in the case of Brest antifascists acused of participation in a group fight with neonazis which happened on May 8, 2013.

Antifascists were tried under the art. 339.3 (malicious group hooliganism) and 147.2 (malicious bodily harm). The case was qualified as malicious due to the fact of pepper spray usage in the fight.

Dzmitry Stsyashenka got 5 years of penal colony with reinforced regime (339.3) and 500 euro of damages to be paid to the injured nazis.

Exclusive: European Union moves to suspend sanctions on Belarus

Submitted by admin on Wed, 09/16/2015 - 21:00

The European Union is likely to lift some sanctions on Belarus, including its travel ban on President Alexander Lukashenko, after he freed a group of political prisoners last month, diplomatic sources say.

An arms embargo against the former Soviet republic would remain. But in an overture to the man the West calls Europe's "last dictator", diplomats are looking at suspending visa bans and asset freezes on most of around 200 people under sanctions for rights abuses, some since disputed elections in 2004.